Walter Shapiro

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@DKarol @LaraMBrownPhD @MattGrossmann @BrendanNyhan @amyklobuchar @CoryBooker I think the key word here is “yet.” Klobuchar is about where John Edwards was in IA in December 2003 — and Edwards almost won the caucuses. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@LaraMBrownPhD @DKarol @MattGrossmann @BrendanNyhan @amyklobuchar @CoryBooker We are in much more agreement than not. But Bloomberg also has a number of problems with African American voters like stop-and frisk that I don’t think TV ads can make go away. Also a major Biden collapse means that someone not Warren or Bernie has done very well in IA and NH. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@DKarol @LaraMBrownPhD @MattGrossmann @BrendanNyhan Also if Biden dramatically collapsed, there are other plausible candidates from Buttigieg to Klobuchar. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @greenfield64: This autopsy of the Harris campaign is another reminder that if you aren't reading Peter Hamby, you're missing one of the… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@lisatozzi Made me laugh, which is a high bar. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I don't want to spoil it, so no teasers. But I will say that @gailcollins latest column on the 2020 Democrats made me laugh repeatedly. Which in my book is the highest honor for a member of the Columnists Guild. https://t.co/XRNFPHSyra — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

The big danger is what it does to the credibility of the press as the cable TV shows are filled with breathless speculation like Kamala Harris is an automatic top tier candidate. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@JeeneHobbs @BrennanCenter Supreme Court ruled in 1970a that unlimited self-funding was constitutional. Grouping states by regions would drastically increase the cost of campaigning, which brings us back to those billionaires. And how is it constitutional to say someone can't declare for president? — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Steyer release: "I’m calling on the DNC to open up the debate requirements for January so more candidates can participate. One of the strengths of the Democratic Party is that it represents every community in our nation." I hope it applies to Booker as well as billionaires. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Listening to Collins is an important arguments for Democrats not to yell. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Next question: If Andrew Johnson we’re here today... — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@polguru I believe you can caucus at age 17 if you will be 18 by Election Day. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Also, Harris’ failure illustrates the folly of the media confidently putting candidates in tiers in the spring of an odd-numbered year. How hard is it to wait for things to happen? — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

My @rollcall column: Advice to House Judiciary Democrats: "Before you say a word during the upcoming impeachment hearings, ask yourself the simple question: 'What would Jim Jordan do?' Then, lower your voice, drop the hyperbole and say the exact opposite." https://t.co/O8ZtpQEX8j — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

"John Bolton should — for both crass commercial reasons and to thwart Vladimir Putin’s manipulation of Trump — make the hardest telephone call of his life, telling Adam Schiff, 'I’m ready to testify whenever you want me.'” My @rollcall column: https://t.co/O8ZtpQEX8j — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

The day after Steve Bullock, a sitting governor, pulls out of the presidential race, we get this email from billionaire hobbyist candidate Tom Steyer: "Tom Steyer Qualifies for December DNC Debate." Needless to say, I'm thrilled how well DNC debate rules work for billionaires. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@LarrySabato No slogan in politics ever beats Dick Tuck's for California state senate in the 1960s: "The job needs Tuck and Tuck needs the job." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@MikeGianella Column says they should change the order. NH gets the first slot. Then SC (55 percent African American for Democrats), then Iowa (rural state) and then Nevada (disproportionately Latino). All these states, aside from NV, are geographically small so less travel costs. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Bloomberg illustrates exactly what's wrong with a national primary. Personal campaigning is the best way that under-funded candidates have a chance to break through. If it's a national primary, then all America becomes a flyover state. Bad enough with 14 primaries on March 3rd. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@manerdm I am doing this from memory, so I may be a little off. There were two things going on simultaneously: 1). Carter's belief that the Shah was close to death. In reality, the Shah lived until July 1980. 2). Fears that predated the Shah entering the US that hostages would be taken. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Researched this recently for a Carter piece: Carter's original instincts were to bar the Shah of Iran from entering the country for medical treatment. But people like Kissinger and David Rockefeller successfully lobbied the administration -- and Carter reluctantly relented. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@CharlesPPierce @OsitaNwanevu Not defending everything Carter did. (I should mention that, having left the White House in September 1979, no hostages were taken on Shapiro's watch). Where it gets complicated is something like airline deregulation which drastically lowered prices but led to its own horrors. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@OsitaNwanevu Just one small way that Carter was different from, say, Clinton or Obama. In response to a recession, Carter presided over the largest public service jobs program since the New Deal. The program (CETA) had its flaws, but it was a real return to old-fashioned liberalism. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@OsitaNwanevu Seriously, I think what upsets you came out of the three landslide defeats that the Democrats suffered in the 1980s. Out of that debacle arose Bill Clinton and his cautious, centrist triangulation. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@roberns @OsitaNwanevu Like all contested presidential nomination fights, the battle in 1976 was not beanbag. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@OsitaNwanevu As someone who worked for Carter during the 1976 campaign and served in the Administration for three years (ending as a White House speechwriter), I am happy to have a president in 2021 who embraced human rights, energy conservation and helped heal America after a lawless Nixon. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@page88 One hell of a difference between #3 and #4. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Any story about David Boies must be read when it ends with this kind of detail: "His longtime P.R. adviser, Dawn Schneider...dropped her pen, threw up her arms and buried her head in her hands." https://t.co/D2c4IMEZRV — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Wonderful @MarkLeibovich piece on the fighters vs. the peacemakers in the Democratic race. I'm reminded of a 2000 Al Gore speech that used variants of "fight" so often that it sounded like an English as a Second Language instruction tape. https://t.co/D8uKK3ncTG — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@DickPolman1 And McGovern (South Dakota), Mondale (Minnesota), Dole (Kansas), Gore (Tennessee) and McCain (Arizona) were so successful because they escaped that urban stigma. — PolitiTweet.org